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The first edition of the guidebook to everybody’s new favorite Spanish climbing destination sold out in just 18 months and so Roca Verde gets a makeover. Totally revised and updated, this new version comes jam-packed with even more crags and routes across the regions of Asturias, Cantabria and Leon in north-west Spain.

La guia nueva de Roca Verde…the new Roca Verde guide…

Working with many of the most active groups and equippers from each area we have added 6 crags never before published, as well as new sectors at existing crags and a couple of classic crags missed from the first edition. Roca Verde now has over 50 crags with 239 sectors to go at; and with over 500 additional routes there’s a staggering total of nearly 3500 routes packed into this edition.

Every topo has been overhauled and updated with new colours for each grade of route: making an ‘at a glance’ assessment of each sector for your grade much easier. In addition there’s even more superb photos, from some of the regions’ best photographers, featuring some of the best routes and climbers in the area capturing the spirit of each crag. In this new edition there’s also an exclusive overview of the bouldering in Asturias; giving you directions and downloads of topos for some of the best spots.

Hay bastante búlders buenas probar en Asturias….there are actually a lot of great places to boulder in Asturias…

Finally, (and maybe a first in climbing guidebooks), there are QR codes scattered throughout the book linking to videos of various routes and boulder problems across the regions. In this way you can get an even stronger flavour of the venues and get some ‘sweaty-palm’ psyche even before you arrive.

Escanear el QR a ver el video…scan the QR code to watch the video…

So with over 50 crags, 239 sectors and nearly 3500 routes; an overview of the bouldering; links to videos and over 200 full colour action photos this is the definitive guide to the Roca Verde region.

You can download the new map from Roca Verde which has all the new crags on it as well as a more obvious layout.

Covering the three regions of Asturias, Cantabria and León and with over 50 crags, 239 sectors and nearly 3500 routes; an overview of the bouldering; links to videos and over 200 full colour action photos this is the definitive guide to the Roca Verde region.

So I’ve done something to my arm. Something random and the day before my week’s holiday to a big cave. And without an obvious cause. I wasn’t bouldering hard or doing anything odd. I had done a bunch of warm ups, a load of core, some light fingerboarding and was doing a few easy and familiar circuits circuits on my board. I hadn’t had time to do the ‘Split Conti’ session Tom had planned for me but I thought that a light session at the end of a boring week-end of shopping and working followed by a rest day as we travelled south in the motorhome would be perfect.

Yet an hour later I was very sore, with a ring finger which felt odd and a line of pain from my elbow which ran up my arm? A muscle pull, or tendon, something light, or something very bad? It was an injury I hadn’t had before (and I’ve had plenty) soI took some brufen, iced it and went to bed…

Next morning as the brufen wears off I am despondent it’s really sore and I am committed to a trip away…a first big trip with the guy I’ve been climbing with for 5 years and my ‘reward’ for the first few weeks of my training…

So what do I do?

My normal reaction to injuries is to drink!! And stop everything…and my first reaction here is to cancel my trip and curl up in bed and mope.

But this is a cycle that always defeats. Stop everything put on weight, get injured again…I need to be positive so I mentally tuck away the white flag and decide to have a holiday.

To see a part of Spain I haven’t seen, to try the food, take photos, document the trip enjoy the ambience and relax in the sun!!! It’s February for f’s sake who’s going to moan about a few days in southern Spain. I have a guidebook to finish, Blogs to write, fotos to edit. Fuck, my job isn’t, in the immortal words from ‘Letter to Breshnev’, sticking my hand up chicken’s arses 8 hours a day and I’m not trying to escape Aleppo…so what have I got to moan about.

I pack the computer, a bunch of books, my yoga mat, my running shoes and download a load of core and stretching videos. Worst case I don’t climb at all but I come back as fit than I left, having seen a load of new crags to go back to and discovered another part of my adopted country.

Is this what they call progress…??

PS Thanks to everyone who offered advice on my FB…

PPS. I could tell lots of stories about pre-trip injuries where I have cancelled and missed out on amazing journeys – and I don’t want another one.

PPPS. My partner Mary has just endured the same – her voyage to climb in the canaries was screwed by a probable slap tear. She went and had a great fun.

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I’m now 10 days into my challenge, it’s been six days since my test, and and I am still feeling busted. The painful realisation is that I probably tried harder and my test than I had in any climbing or training in 10 years – and that I am going to have to carry on like that to get anywhere what I want to do.

The easy bit of the test…

Saturday morning was a world of aches – nothing too bad it seemed but shoulders, which had borne the brunt of the Lattice Board, were very, very tired. We arrived back in Spain on the Sunday after the test and with the travelling and driving I was tired so Monday was a rest day. However on Tuesday the crag had called and I went out to Gradura one of the steepest crags around…basically a huge cave with the easiest warm-up 7a+ and most of the routes at around 8a.

I warmed up on my board – and didn’t feel bad – but it was only when I got on the crag and tried to move on the warm up I clicked that I was still, plainly speaking, bollocksed!!! My shoulders just weren’t working and things went from bad to worse as I got on the super steep 7c…1 dog, 2 dogs 3, 4, 5…I couldn’t do more than two moves without needing the rope. It was at this point that I understood how much the test had taken out of me. 4 days later and I was still broken!

Samba Pa Ti – a bridge too far…

I was depressed…ffs I am 49 can I do this??…if the test had broken me what would happen when I tried to train!